Whitney Houston 1963--2012

In the middle of a 1990 interview with Essence magazine, Whitney Houston suddenly unleashed one of those gospel-inspired flurries of notes that she could sing better than anyone else. Then she stopped. "That's nice," the pop superstar said of her vocal acrobatics. "I love that mess. But does it make a record, and does it have worldwide appeal? And what happens after that? Longevity--that's what it's all about. If you're gonna have a long career, there's a certain way to do it, and I did it that way. I'm not ashamed of it."